Not As Elemental As Metamorpho, Not As Good A Shot As Green Arrow, Not...

You have to give DC house ads of the late 1960s one thing: they could be cheeky and self-aware as all get out:

Well, technically, that could apply to 99% of the people in the world, so it would be a pretty terrible Jeopardy answer (Who are 3 people who have never been in my kitchen, Alex?)

 So whom are we pushing today?

Oh, Plas...Even in one of the rare instances when DC was actually publishing you, they could only market you by telling everyone that you're not as good as their "real" heroes...

From Capt. Storm #17 (1967)

The Best Cover You've Never Seen--Doom Patrol #119 (1968)

Straight trippin':

Layouts by Carmine Infantino, pencils & inks by Bob Brown.

Manic Monday Bonus--That Time Cliff Steele Became A Hare Krishna?!?

This sort of thing happened all of the time in the 1960s:

Ouch.

Oh, don't worry. Cliff is fine...

...mostly.

Geez, it was just a truck. Shoddy workmanship, Chief!!

Anyway...

...the power of prayer and meditation fixed him!!

From Doom Patrol #119 (1968)

Manic Monday Bonus--It's Not That Hard To Make A Super-Hero Team!!

It's 1965, and everybody wants to get in on the "let's make super-hero team" craze!!

Let's flash even further back a bit...

OK, maybe letting your baby--no matter how ugly or smart--play with matches is kind of a bad idea?

Man, I love that panel a lot more than I should.

Anyway, Roderick Bump passes a local newsstand, and is inspired on how to make a living:

It's true--Einstein and Bohrs had their own super-hero teams, didn't they?!?

And so...

The result?

Now that is a team!!

Ummm, Roderick old chum...usually heroes don't participate in a "crime wave." They're supposed to be good guys!!

Well, I guess I was wrong...

I hope you were taking notes, because this information could prove critical later this week, he opined mysteriously!

From Herbie #14 (1965)

And There Came A Day, Unlike Any Other...

Prepare yourselves for the unlikeliest super-hero team of all time!! (And take notes, because you'll need this later this week, he said cryptically...).

Like many publishers from the late 40s to the early 60s, American Comics Group flitted from trend to trend--westerns, crime, romance, what have you.

Their two best known and longest running series were Adventures Into The Unknown and Forbidden Worlds, horror/science-fiction anthology titles.

Well, when super-heroes became popular again, ACG (like many other smaller publishers) tried to hop on that Marvel & DC-led bandwagon, by introducing new super-heroes/cover stars in those two books. Surely, great riches awaited!!

Well, not so much.

But ACG did have one other character who dabbled in the long-underwear domain. So it was inevitable that they would team up, right? Albeit in a fourth wall-breaking sort of way!

Yes, this was the day that Nemesis and Magicman met...The Fat Fury!!

The most requested team-up in comics history follows...

But the "real" heroes aren't too impressed with Herbie's flying!

And when they encounter the bad guys...

After the villains' hash is settled...

And the Fat Fury returns to his home, too...

Oh, Herbie...

From Herbie #14 (1965)

The Fab 4, The Mod, And His Bird!

You all know how much I love faux rock bands in comic books. And I especially love them when the comic creators try oh so hard to get hip and cool.

It's 1967, and Dell is making their brief (and futile) attempt to capitalize on the super-hero market. Four teenage heroes, known as the Fab Four, are going to investigate some shenanigans at a rock concert:

Yes, it is Mr. Mod and his Bird!!

Well, that's an evil plan!

And so...

Yes, we all want Mod!!

Ginchy!

And lest you think that's not a real song...

It's by Bo Bylan, who no doubt is the voice of his generation.!

The song has the desired effect--even on our heroes:

And apparently, the "foreign ministers conference" is a conference of foreign ministers from 1893:

Indubitably!

SPOILER ALERT: The Fab Four break free of the spell and save the day. Mr. Mod and his Bird are captured. The conference of foreign ministers approved the Treaty Of The Durand Line. Their comic is promptly cancelled. Dell never tried the heady mix of trendy super-heroes and modern music again.

From Superheroes #4 (1967)

Manic Bat-Monday Bonus--The ACLU's Favorite Super-Hero?!?

Some criminal mastermind--[SPOILER ALERT--He's named The Mastermind!!] has plotted several successful and spectacular crimes in Gotham.

But the good guys have caught a break--not all of the crooks escaped!!

Now, if you've only read Batman post-Frank Miller, you probably expect this is where Batman puts on his Christian Bale voice, hangs someone upside down over the edge of a skyscraper, and threatens to beat the crap or let them die or other rough stuff.

Haha, you don't know the 1960s Batman!

Really?

I mean, I'm all for civil rights and such--but isn't the whole point of being a vigilante that you're operating outside the law, unfettered by police legalisms and procedures?!? And don't their rights include you not punching the hell out of them in the first place?!?

1960s Batman--soft on criminals!!

From Detective Comics #368 (1967), as reprinted in Batman #258 (1974)

Marvel Vs. The Reds!!

Letters in Fantastic Four #29 (1964), debating the use of communists as villains in Marvel's books:

For what it's worth, this very same issue featured the FF fighting the Red Ghost, so there you go...